Breaking with its decades-long practice, the CIA declined to identify Frank Archibald when he was appointed head of the organization's National Clandestine Service, even though the 30-year veteran's name was well-known among congressional oversight committees, Pentagon counterparts and journalists who cover the CIA.

Marcy Wheeler, a Michigan blogger who plies her trade far away from the closed world of Washington, D.C., enables journalists, lawyers, advocates and experts to unmask the government’s secret spying apparatus.